Cracking stuff Uncle Cracker Little e/w dabble on Libation in the Fontwell bumper - the Flint yard don't win many bumpers but this filly looks nicely bred by Doyen out of an unraced mare descended from Ela-mona-mou.
Hardly the jockeys fault Nass, what would you have him do? Stop riding? oddy, you should get a refund there mate lol
He should have at least tried to correct the horse when it first started moving towards the rail. He never even tried to keep the horse straight. He was only bothered about getting its head infront. Something that surely will get overturned anyway. Shocking and dangerous in equal measures for me.
In a matter of four ir five strides the horse angles toward the paddock exit, hapoens time and again at Fontwell. Horse having his first run too. Not sure what he could have done. If he stops riding the FAVOURITE he would get carpeted for that too!
I think it was happening more than four or fives, first the other horse hung into him then the pair moved across to the rail, it was obvious that it was going to end badly, they were lucky how it did end. The fact he never tried to correct the running of the unexperienced horse shows how the bumper system is flawed. That wasn't an education for either horse, was it?
Interesting counter views lads but the racecourse shouldn't be a schooling ground or have anything to do with "educating" a horse...thats what a trainer is paid for. As it stands the rules of racing are crystal clear.Each and every horse must be ready to run on it's merits and ridden to maximise it's finishing position.In practice things are as clear as a wino's sample. Stoute and Gosden have been using the racecourse as a schooling ground for years and are never taken to task..they are in fact lauded for giving their charges such "kind introductions"...the late Cecil was another culprit. Unacceptable but accepted by those who "run" racing.
It depends what you class as educating doesn't it? and what ridden to maximise its finishing position means? I would suggest that you can maximise a horses finishing position by not over racing it, or forcing another horse into the rail, is it better to win and be disqualified than be second and have to explain the horse was hanging? For the record, glad the result got reversed, and both horses finished looking ok, but you can't carry on riding a finish if you are about to put another horse over/into the rail.
On first viewing I thought O'Brien was guilty of not correcting his mount by giving it a couple of good cracks with the whip in his right hand. However, in the last 50 yards or so the horses were so close together there was no room for him to swing his whip. I've never ridden a horse, but perhaps he could have used the reins more to pull the filly away from the rail? Correct that the result got overturned but I wouldn't be in a rush to ban O'Brien.
Interesting argument Dex but you will find that stewards are far more lenient on the rides given to bumpers as they are seen as part of a National Hunt horses education to racing. Maybe betting on bumpers shouldn't be allowed but they would still be racing for prize money wouldn't they.
Totally Stick and that probably should be the case if stretching the parameters...It's the connections who take the wee wee that irks. It's ultimately the complete inconsistency of the stewards that I find mind boggling..no one wants a bunch of pedants at the helm but a consensus would be nice..certain individuals in the training ranks get away with too much and are effectively untouchable. Good luck with your one...very exciting times..keep us posted!
Nice to see Balthazar King winning a listed cross country race in Craon, France today - full marks to connections for their vision and foresight in planning this.
